The Battle of Hogwarts
by Tonkswyrda
Summary: The forecast is out on Potterwatch. Lightninghas struck, and Tonks knows this means the final battle is here. AU. Spoilers for DH2 film!


The shrill ring of the telephone broke through the sleepy silence, only cutting out when a half awake Remus Lupin knocked it out if its cradle. Fumbling, he picked it off the bedside table, answering it with a sleepy "'llo?"

It only took a few seconds, however, before he was wide awake, sitting stock straight up in bed. With his free hand, he played with the dial on the radio, tuning it until he heard the message.

"We have a new weather forecast: Lightning has struck! I repeat, Lighting has struck!"

Beside him in bed, Nymphadora Lupin stirred. One look at her husband's face told her all she needed to know. This was it. The final battle.

Inwardly, she groaned. She could practically see the clogs working in his head already as he planned how to convince her to stay behind. He had put the phone down, but the static of the radio filled the room. He hadn't moved, and his eyes were fixed on the crib in the corner of the room.

Teddy. She sighed. He had plenty to work with, that was for sure. But there was no way she was going to sit around and wait for him, not knowing if he was dead or alive. If anything, it ought to be the other way round. She was an auror. She was trained, she had experience in this type of thing. she was not going to stay behind.

Flinging the blankets back, she climbed out of bed, reaching for her clothes. She heard the static cut out as he flicked the radio off, but she ignored it, pulling on her jeans.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She shrugged a shirt over her head. "Don't even try, Remus. I know what's happening and I've made up my mind. I'm coming. You're not leaving me here alone."

"You don't honestly think I'm going to let you come, do you?" He sounded angry, and when she turned, searching for her boots, she saw him standing, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. She ignored what was clearly meant to be a disapproving look, sitting on the end of the bed to lace her boots. Remus sat beside her.

"Do you honestly think I'm letting you go alone?" She asked. "Someone has to watch your back."

"Kingsley can watch my back." Remus said, frowning.

"And who's going to watch his?" she retorted. "Come on. Get changed."

He was silent for a moment, before sighing. "What about Teddy?"

She didn't answer immediately. "We'll have to drop him off with Mum."

"You really think that's the best idea?"

"Well we can't exactly take him with us, can we?" she rolled her eyes. "And as neither of us is planning on staying home, I don't think we have another option. Come on. We need to go."

Calmly, she pulled out her drawer, hooking things onto her belt, slipping a dagger in her boot and placing her wand in her pocket before packing Teddy's bag and grabbing her jacket. Remus had changed, and had Teddy out of bed.

He sighed. "Time to go then." He clearly wasn't happy that she was coming along.

Nodding silently, she took his free hand, and with a loud crack they apparated, leaving an empty, cold house behind them.

Needless to say, Andromeda was not impressed to see them on her doorstep. But, unlike Remus, she understood that Tonks couldn't stay behind, and took Teddy without question.

She didn't want to say goodbye. Instead, Tonks just hugged her tightly, and her mother understood. With a shaky breath, she took Remus' hand again, and they left.

"How are we getting in?" she asked, trying to distract herself from the fact that it was entirely possible that could be the last time she ever saw her mother and her son again.

"Aberforth has a passage. We'll have to apparate into Hogsmeade."

She gripped his hand tighter, closing her eyes.

When she opened them, they were standing in a snowy side street. It looked quiet enough. As soon as they moved however, a loud screeching sounded throughout the village, and she saw light spill from doors and heard loud voices.

Death Eaters. Snatchers. And they'd put a caterwauling charm on the entire village.

"Come on!" Remus tried to pull her away, but she twisted her arm out of his grasp.

"No."

It was quicker to take the main street anyway.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

She turned back and smiled, quite possibly the filthiest smile that had ever passed across her face out of the bedroom.

"Warming up. Follow me."

From the expression on his face, she gathered that he knew now he had married a mad woman. Partly true, she supposed, as she stepped into the main street. There were several of them waiting for her. She didn't even hesitate, drawing her wand and stalking forward, her hair flaming and her cloak billowing behind her like a fury in the chilling wind.

They hesitated. Until she walked into the light. Then they laughed, drawing their wands.

They didn't stand a chance. It hardly mattered that they outnumbered her; she'd duelled more than this before, and could hear Remus coming up behind her shouting curses too.

She ploughed through them, barely flicking her wand, throwing them out of the way, knocking them unconscious. Quickly, she and Remus slipped into the Hogs Head, where Aberforth was already speaking in hushed tones with Kingsley. He looked surprised to see her there, and raised an eyebrow at Remus.

"She's impossible." He sighed.

"Too right. What's the plan?" She asked briskly.

"Tunnel here takes us into the room of requirement." Said Kingsley. A few of them are still in there, but Snape knows Harry was spotted in Hogsmeade. He's called an assembly. Harry went with them."

"He went with them?" Remus said incredulously.

"Oh yes. We're to meet him in the great hall. Snape's going to have a bit of a security problem on his hands." Kingsley grinned. "Come on then. Everyone else is already through."

With a nod of thanks to Aberforth they were off, making their way through a winding stone passage.

"You know you shouldn't be here, Tonks." Kingsley said firmly.

"No. I think I have every right to be here. I'm a damn lot better trained than half the rest of the people you'll have brought in."

"But none of them have children. Not children who are less than a month old, anyway."

She glared at him. "I'm not going. You two can't have all the fun, got it? Don't bother trying to make me change my mind."

Kingsley and Remus exchanged a look, before Kingsley sighed. "Fine. But you do as you're told, and be CAREFUL."

She rolled her eyes, walking in front of them, pushing the doorway open and jumping down the stairs to where the others were waiting.

"I hear we're to be a bit of a security issue? Can we get started?"

Fred and George cracked identical, evil grins. "Let's do it."

Severus Snape was pacing between the children in the great hall. They all avoided eye contact with him.

He hated to do this.

"If anyone has information on Potters movements tonight, I invite them to step forward. Now."

No one moved.

Then he heard it. Footsteps. From the Gryffindors.

But his mouth fell open as he, and everyone else in the hall saw who it was. It wasn't a student or staff; it was him

Harry Potter.

There was a collective gasp.

"It seems despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a secur-"

The door to the great hall burst open, and a body was flung through the air, landing on the cold stone floor.

It was a Death Eater, and he was dead.

Snape looked up.

Tonks was standing in the doorway, wand out and smoking, looking coolly at him.

"Sorry Harry. Please, continue."

Harry grinned at her, turning back to Snape as the other members of the Order and Ron and Hermione entered, Tonks falling in behind Remus in a V formation.

"You have a bit of a security problem, headmaster. And it's extensive."

It seemed all would be well, as McGonagall stepped forward, duelling Snape and reflecting his curses onto the Carrows before he disappeared, but it was barely seconds after the students had begun celebrating Snape's sacking that Tonks felt it, in her head, and heard his voice.

It hurt.

It was as if something was pushing down on her head, and his voice cut through the pain like a knife. Stumbling, she grabbed at Remus, clutching his jacket sleeve tightly as he held her.

"Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. You have one hour."

Silence fell.

"Well there's Potter there! Somebody grab him!" A Slytherin girl Tonks didn't recognize pointed an accusatory finger at Harry. Quickly, Ginny stepped in front of him, and the other Gryffindors followed. Slipping her hand down Remus arm to grip his hand, they stepped forward too.

"Students of bed! Students out of bed!"

Filch shoved his way through the crowd. "Students in the corridors! Students out of bed!"

"They're supposed to be out of bed!" McGonagall snapped. "However, your timing has been rather convenient, Mr. Filch. Please escort Miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin house from the great hall."

"And where am I taking them too, Mam?"

"The dungeons would do."

Tonks couldn't help but grin.

"Come on." Kingsley was dragging her and Remus away. We need to get started on defences. McGonagall!" he called. "We'll take the north side, from the tower block!"

She nodded. "I'll start up the defences and shield charms!"

They left, rushing up the staircase, followed by Dean Thomas, the Weasley twins and a few other students.

"We'll have to spread out, cover as much ground as we can. Defensive enchantments are our best bet." Kingsley was saying. "Tonks and I have been trained in this sort of defence, but the rest of you- shield charms, only turn to the offense if those aren't working! We don't want to kill if we don't have to, but in a situation like this it's going to be hard to avoid. Use the surroundings. This castle is going to crumble, but we can use that to our advantage. A rock to the face is going to be more effective than a weak charm or jinx." He turned, stopping them. "And you kids- don't even try using unforgivables. You're not strong enough, and you'll only end up weakening yourselves. Stick to what you know. Got it?"

They all nodded.

"Right. Take a staircase in pairs, position yourself at the top, with a window. You need a good view outside." Remus, Tonks, we'll take the swing bridges up the centre."

Together, they nodded.

"Let's do this then."

Even though the school below was in complete panic mode, from the top of the tower block, it was eerily silent. The swing bridge paths creaked in the breeze. Below in the courtyard they could see McGonagall, Flitwick and Molly creating a huge shield, wrapping itself around the school like a bubble, sparking red and orange before fading and becoming invisible.

"How long will that hold, do you think?" Tonks asked quietly, clutching the railing.

"It might be enough to stop whatever creatures he's got, and snatchers and the like. But this is Voldemort." Remus looked at her, their eyes locking. "I don't know." He said quietly, turning back to the night sky. "Not long enough."

Closing her eyes, she gripped the railing even tighter. Up here they were open to the elements and the wind ruffling her hair and blowing through her jacket was cold. But the goose bumps rising on her skin weren't due to the wind. Something else was sending a chill through her, and it was the fact she knew she might be about to die. Here. Tonight. This could be the end.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, but it definitely wasn't an hour, when it began.

Hundreds of green lights hit the barrier, flaring and crackling, but making no impression on it. The silence around the castle had disappeared, and now the air was full of the sound of the bellows and howls of whatever creatures were running towards the castle, all mixed with the terrified screams as students tried to find safety.

Hesitantly, Tonks waved her wand, sending a flaring ball of light out into the night sky. It faded quickly, but gave them enough time to make out the huge number of snatchers and what looked like Trolls running at the castle from all directions.

Her mouth opened in a small 'o'. She'd known they would be outnumbered... but this was more than any of them had dreamed possible.

Dean had come up, sent by Professor McGonagall to see if there was anything they would need, and Kingsley had called him back after seeing the oncoming horde.

"Actually, tell Professor McGonagall we might need a few more wands this side."

Dean nodded, running down the stairs. Tonks bit her lip, looking back out into the dark night.

It was hopeless.

"It's the quality of one's conviction that determines success, not the number of followers." Remus said firmly.

Kingsley glanced at him. "Who said that?"

Remus looked slightly surprised at himself as he replied, "me."

She couldn't help but grin, doing her best to suppress a giggle.

Kingsley rolled his eyes at her. "A little seriousness Tonks, please. You two hold the fort here, I'm going to check round the corner, see what's happening that side."

"Right. Sorry." She didn't make a sound until Kingsley was out of sight."

"Do you really think that though?" she asked quietly.

Remus kept his eyes on the darkness beyond. "I do. Harry knows what he needs to do, and if he kills Voldemort... the rest won't matter. We're just one big distraction, really." He was silent for a moment. "What if-"

"Don't." She cuts across him, surprised by the amount of fear in her voice. But she doesn't want to think about it. If one of them dies. If they both die.

That's when it happens. A loud crackling sounds throughout the castle, and they watch in dismay as holes appear in their shield, and it melts into the air.

Her stomach is in knots. She's never been this nervous before, this scarred. Looking back at Remus, she finds him starring desperately at her, and reaches out her hand as he does the same.

Their fingers are millimetres apart.

With an agitated sigh she steps closer, grasping his hand and holding it tightly.

"Together?" she whispers, as his fingers intertwine with hers.

"Together." He repeats, and they turn back out to the night, raising their wands as the first death eaters enter the court yard.

It's already on fire.

There's a loud crash of shattering glass as the windows on either side are broken through, thick trails of black smoke racing towards them, and they are forced to drop hands, Tonks tossing her wand it the air, catching it in her right hand and flicking it at the oncoming death eater, a brick wall blossoming out of thing air for him to crash into. Another flick of her wand sends him hurtling back out the way he came. Its only seconds before another replaces him though, and she hits him full in the face with a stunner, and can hear Remus do the exact same behind her.

The bridge beneath her feet is beginning to shake. Not sway, but full on shake. Nervously, she clutches the rail, taking a second to glance down.

A giant troll has taken to hitting the stone wall with a giant, studded, lethal looking hammer.

Shit.

Stumbling backwards, warding off hexes and dodging a killing curse, she yells the situation to Remus. Her alert is hardly necessary though, as seconds later the whole tower shakes as if in an earthquake.

"Get out before it falls!" Remus yells at her, ducking as a green light flies over his shoulder. "Grab anyone you find on the way!"

Nodding, she blasts a death eater out of her way, running for the stairs.

So much for doing this together. But she knew that wasn't really going to happen.

She hadn't even turned off the main bridge for the stairs when the column beside her cracked, and began to crumble.

She felt her heart sink as a great ball of fire hit the stone ledge, smashing the tower and taking her section of bridge alone with it.

She can't die; not yet, at least, she hasn't even been fighting for an hour, and she'll be damned if a bloody bridge is going to be her undoing.

She scrambles as it starts to fall, clinging to the thin boards, trying to use them as a ladder; but there's a fire burning just beneath and the wood is already crackling and burning. Panicking, she climbs as quickly as she can, but as the wood splinters beneath her hands, she knows she won't make it.

"Tonks!"

A hand comes into view, and she looks up into the face of Dean Thomas.

She grabs his hand just as the bridge disconnects from its supports, letting him lift her until she is able to clamber over the edge herself. She clings to the railing, taking a deep breath.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Come on, let's get out of here."

He leads her to the exit, and together they run down the spiral stairs, flinging the door open and crashing head first into a group of terrified, screaming students.

"Don't go that way!" Tonks yells at them, but too late; the screams intensify as the castle starts to collapse on them.

"Everybody move!" Dean yells, pulling open another door. "This way, go! Go!" they all follow his lead, and Tonks is about to join them when he points behind her. "Tonks!"

She turns just as the window smashes, and the great, ugly face of the troll that was having a go at the tower supports leers at her through the broken glass.

"Can you hold it off?" Dean asks, still ushering students through.

Taking a deep breath she nods, bending down on one knee and pulling the dagger from her boot.

She has no idea what she's about to do. Well, she has an idea, but it's so insane and crazy that she shouldn't even consider it. When has running at a mountain troll and jumping onto its head ever worked?

Hopefully it does this time.

Blade in hand, she takes off, her heart thumping in her ears as she jumps off the window ledge, yelling. Even the troll seems a little taken aback, stepping back as she flies through the air. But she hits her mark, wrapping one arm around its neck, which is almost as thick as a tree trunk, driving the dagger between its eyes with the other.

The troll bellows loudly in pain, but it is short lived as it stumbles, swaying, and falls backwards, sending Tonks flying.

She hadn't thought about that part, and does her best to cover her head. But she's jolted as she hits the ground, thrown across the flagstones like a rag doll.

The troll however, is quite dead, her knife still protruding from its face.

Everywhere feels bruised already as she pulls herself upright, desperately feeling for her wand. Clutching it tightly, she staggers to her feet. She's not even sure where she is.

She's in the courtyard. Debris is everywhere, and she feels her heart wrench as she notices the bodies of students lying, bloody and lifeless, among the ruins. She stumbles backwards, heart racing. It's not supposed to happen like this.

She can hear screams, but they're on the other side of the courtyard, inside the castle. Taking a deep breath, Tonks runs towards them.

There are death eaters everywhere, and every other spell out of her wand is a shield charm. One of them manages to hit her from behind with the cruciatus, but the intense pain only lasts a few seconds before she hears a loud bang, and a pair of tidy shoes comes into vision.

Percy Weasley pulls her to her feet, his face pale and coated with dust.

"You alright?"

She nods. "I heard- screams- what's going on over that side?"

He seems reluctant to answer, starring at his shoes before looking back up and quietly saying one word.

"Werewolves."

Her heart sinks.

"Right."

"Tonks-"

She shrugs out of his grasp, face set. It's not even a full moon, but she knows what's happening, and she can guess who will be leading this onslaught. The very thought of it makes her sick.

And she's not wrong. As she turns the corner into an open passage, she seems him launch himself through an arch onto a screaming Gryffindor girl, his mouth going straight to her throat.

"NO!"

Her hands are shaking and its taking all her energy not to try and hit him with a killing curse, which she knows she won't be able to use in this state. Greyback looks up from the girl, grinning sickly, his face covered in smeared blood.

The girl isn't moving any more.

Pointing her wand, she blasts him, her stunner so strong it sends him flying. Satisfied she runs towards his unconscious body, sending ropes to twist themselves around his limp form. She doesn't want him hurting anyone else tonight.

She has to stop at the girl's body. Because every month, that could be her. Kneeling, she closes her glassy eyes before continuing on.

It's absolute chaos, everywhere in the castle. Not only are there students fighting, death eaters and snatchers and trolls, but there are still small children running scared, and she sees too many hit by deflected spells or crushed by crumbling walls.

By the time she reaches the grassy hill between Hogwarts and the forbidden forest, she's choking back tears. Leaning against the cold stone of the school, she takes a deep breath. Even here, the place is swarming with snatchers, and now they've all noticed her. Wiping her eyes, she takes a stand.

There's too many of them, and she knows she won't be able to hold them all off.

One down. Two. Three. One of them sends a ball of fire into the stone above her and she narrowly avoids being crushed. A tumbling stone bounces into her head, causing blood to gush from above her left eye.

They're laughing now, because it looks like she'll be easy prey, but it's another five minutes before her defences falter, and she's thrown back into the wall.

It's over; she knows it is. There's no way she's getting out of this. There are only a few Order members and students here; and well over fifty snatchers.

Clutching the cold stone, she hauls herself to her feet, grimacing through the pain. She won't die like a coward.

They're not going to kill her straight away, she can tell. Whatever she's in for, it's going to be long and painful. They're crowding around, and out of the corner of her eye she can see one is holding a wicked, curved and serrated blade that sends shivers up her spine.

"Come on then!" She yells, pointing her wand at them. "Have a go!"

They're about to, when she feels the crushing weight in her head again, and falls to her knees as he speaks in her head. Calling for his followers to withdraw.

"Dispose of your dead with dignity."

She was clutching her hair, shaking.

"Harry Potter: I speak now directly to you. You have allowed others to die for you."

She couldn't drown him out. Not by screaming. But she didn't want to hear him asking Harry to surrender. He couldn't. He couldn't give himself up. Not now.

The pressure is lifted, but she doesn't move. She feels someone spit on her, but they do as they're told and leave.

The castle is eerily silent again.

On shaky legs, she manages to find her way back inside. Students, teachers, and Order members alike are already collecting bodies, and she is suddenly struck by fear, pushing her way past people to reach the great hall.

Please don't let Remus be dead, he can't be, please...

She can't remember if he was still in the tower when it collapsed or not. She never saw him after he told her to leave.

She trips into the great hall, and she can't see him.

It feels like her heart is in her throat as she looks around the room. It's so full of people... and bodies. And the noise. Crying, distraught screams, yells and chatter as people find one another.

She might never find him though. What if he's not even here, what if he's still lying somewhere, cold and alone in a deserted corridor, crushed or mangled-

The entire hall seems, to her, to go deathly silent as she sees it. Lying on a stretcher on the ground, rough woollen blanket covering all but an arm. An arm in a tweed jacket, ripped and bloody.

She has no idea if the scream in her head makes it out of her mouth or not. Even if it did, she doubts it would be heard. Pushing past people, she makes for the body, tears freely rolling down her face, mixing with the blood.

Strong arms grab her, wrap around her, but she starts hitting them away- her eyes never leave his body. It's probably Kingsley, or someone thinking she doesn't need to see his cold, dead, face.

But she does. She really, really does.

"Dora- no, stop-Dora!"

She looks up ready to tell whoever it is to piss off and let go, but words fail her as she finds herself looking into his face.

She looks back at the body. Someone else has fallen beside it, pulling the blanket back to reveal a face that isn't the one she expected.

She looks up at it, and manages to choke out his name before burying her face in the rough material of his shirt.

Remus' arms tighten around her, one of his hands twisted in her hair, the other holding her back as close to him as possible. She wraps her arms around him, and its minutes before either of them pulls out of the embrace.

He's a mess. His jacket is torn in several places, and the bottom of it has burnt off in patches. He's coated in dust from falling rubble, and there's a deep cut across his shoulder that's still slowly oozing blood.

"You look terrible." She says finally, and they share a short laugh because they know they both look nightmarish.

"I thought- I thought you were-"

He cut her off, putting a dirty finger to her lips and shaking his head.

"Still here, I'm afraid." He sighed, setting his jaw, and she notices the redness around his eyes that marks that he's been crying. Waiting for her to be brought in. "I was terrified yours would be the next body they brought in, you know. I- I don't know what I would do if they did."

He pushed her hair, sticky with blood, back behind her ear. "You should get that looked at." He told her seriously. "Madam Pomfrey's doing the rounds, you've lost a lot of blood and you don't want it to get infect-"

He was being so ridiculous, worrying about her when he looked half dead, and she'd missed him more than she'd realised so without warning she threw her arms around his neck, crushing her lips against his.

She wasn't sure if they would have broken apart at all if it wasn't for Kingsley clearing his throat extremely loudly next to them.

He didn't say anything though; just gave then a disapproving look before nodding, as if to congratulate them on surviving, and moving on. Remus gave her a small smile before waving Madam Pomfrey over. Once her head and his shoulder were cleaned up they sat together, in silence, waiting for something to happen. Harry had disappeared; they could only hope that he hadn't gone to the forest, because no one had seen him for over half an hour.

It was still hard to believe they were both alive.

Fred was dead, and Tonks' heart ached for the Weasleys, especially Molly, who was now sitting in a stunned silence, her family around her still red eyed and crying. The number of student bodies littering the hall was astounding, and some of them were so mangled when they were brought in she couldn't look.

Remus' hand never let go of hers.

The morning sun was beginning to rise over the still smoking remains of the castle when someone pointed out the window. There was a huge scramble as everyone fought to see what was happening. Standing on a table behind everyone else, Tonks caught a glimpse of a long, black procession.

"What is it?" Remus asked.

"They're coming." She said in hushed tones. "Come on." Together, they joined the crowd rushing for the front doors and spilling into the main courtyard.

She had never been more grateful for Remus' hand around her own than at that moment, when she saw him, and Hagrid, and the body in Hagrid's arms.

McGonagall screamed.

She stood in a shocked silence, letting herself be buffeted by the crowd. Ginny ran past in tears, Arthur having to hold her back. Ron and Hermione were screaming. But she seemed to have forgotten how to use her voice. Remus was in shock too; his only reaction had been to grip her hand even tighter, so tight it hurt; she didn't know if it was so they weren't separated in the mass of students, or because he needed to anchor himself to something to keep him steady. Either way, she was glad for it.

"Harry Potter is dead!" Voldemort yelled, and his voice chilled her to the bone.

Sure enough the body in Hagrid's arms wasn't moving at all. He had gone, and Tonks had no idea why he had done it, when everyone had been fighting for so long to keep him alive.

A wasted effort, now.

"From now on, you put your faith... in me."

And they watched as he invited them to join him, and not a soul moved, and the only sound in the courtyard was the wind.

"Draco... come."

The whole crowd watched her cousin cross sides, but no one else was going to follow.

At least, that was what she had thought, until a head at the front of the crowd hobbled forwards, and her heart sunk in disbelief as she saw who it was.

Neville. Hobbling forward on a bleeding leg, wand loosely in one hand, and the old, smoking and charred sorting hat in the other.

Surely he wasn't. He couldn't. Not after what they'd done to his parents. Not after what the Carrows had done to him. Surely...

"We need more of your kind, Neville Longbottom..."

"I'd like to say something."

No one was making a sound, and his voice carried on this wind.

"It doesn't matter that Harry's dead."

"Neville, what are yo-" Seamus interrupted, but Neville cut across him.

"People die every day. Friends. Family. Yeah. We lost Harry tonight. But he's still with us. In here." He placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and she knew then that he was still with them. "So's Fred. All of them. They didn't die in vain. But you will!" Neville turned back to Voldemort. "Because you're wrong! Harry's heart did beat for us, for all of us! And I'll join you when Hell freezes over! Dumbledores Army!" he raised his wand, and the entire crowd cheered- and their cheers for Neville turned into screams of delight as the body in Hagrid's arms threw itself to the ground, rolled, got to its feet, and ran over the rubble.

"He's not dead!" Everyone was yelling, and then, in an utterly insane move, the students charged.

Smiling at Remus and drawing her wand, she joined in, and he ran with her, the both of them yelling curses, hitting death eaters and snatchers square in the face before they had a chance to retaliate.

But then he screamed, and it wasn't difficult to see why. The giant snake had joined the fray, but Neville had just pulled the sword of Gryffindor from the hat and the snakes head was flying through the air above their heads.

The death eaters charged, fighting them back into the entrance hall, pushing them into the great hall where the bodies of the dead were still lying.

It was pandemonium. There wasn't a single student from any of the four houses who wasn't fighting for Hogwarts, for Harry. Flinging rubble and hexes at death eaters, Tonks was sure to keep Remus at her side. From the corner of her eye she could see students duelling Bellatrix, their bodies like rag dolls as she tossed them aside.

Ginny stepped forward with Luna, and her heart sank, because the Weasley's couldn't lose another tonight...

"Not my daughter, you BITCH!"

Tonks had never seen Molly duel before, and hardly had time now, but what she could see from the corner of her eye was fierce, and as Bellatrix laughed, she had a flashback to what everyone had told her had happened to Sirius after she'd been knocked out, and she knew how it was going to end.

Sure enough, a green jet of light hit her square in the chest and she crumpled, the ghost of her last, wicked laugh mixed with shock on her face.

Voldemort's scream echoed through the castle once more, and Tonks knew Molly was in trouble. Even though she knew it could only end badly, she pulled away from Remus, rushing forwards to help.

She couldn't let Molly face him alone.

"NO!"

Harry suddenly appeared in the middle of the crowd, his wand slicing through the air, casting a huge shield charm as Voldemort had raised his wand.

He faltered.

Someone grabbed hold of her and she turned to find Remus, his face white and set. They both knew that this was it. Win or lose. Live or die. It would all be decided here.

"Snape was never your man! Dont you see? He loved-"

"Snape is dead! It hardly matters!

You killed him because you thought it would make the elder wand yours. But you were wrong, because the elder wand was never Snapes! Someone else disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him! The elder wand belonged to someone else!"

"Who then?"

"Draco Malfoy. But I disarmed Draco, a few weeks ago at Mafoy manor. So the real question is: will the wand recognise its true owner?"

There was absolute silence in the hall, and Tonks couldn't help but think how lucky it was that the Malfoys had walked out, or Draco would be dead.

"Maybe, Tom, you should try for some remorse." Harry said, pointing his wand at Voldemort. "Maybe, just a little..."

But Voldemort was done talking.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The red and green jets of light hitting each other. The green rebounding back onto its caster. Voldemort falling backwards, and the elder wand spinning through the air, landing in Harry's outstretched hand.


End file.
